So long and thanks for all the fish.

My 5th grade report card came back with the phrase “consistently uses time wisely” plastered on the behavior section of the card addressed to the parents of Aldy Hernandez. I knew I was in trouble. I didn’t know what “consistently” meant, but judging from what was usually scribbled in the behavior section, I was sure it involved being grounded. I didn’t know what “consistently” meant, but I sure knew what “potential” meant, as my reports cards usually had some variant of “Aldy has the potential to become a top student if only…[he would stop talking during class, not get into fights, refrain from pulling girls’ hairs, etc etc]”.
Fifth grade was the first time I didn’t get a huge speech after handing over my report card. Apparently “consistently” didn’t reflect negatively on me. A few decades later my parents explained that my teachers complained that instead of interrupting the teacher (which I found was *NOT* ok), I had taken to using class time to finish the homework for the rest of the week (or month). This freed me to putz around the neighborhood in the afternoons, distracting my friends from doing their homework.

This is the beginning of the story of how I ended jumping from project to project, never sitting still. Originally, I thought it was a bad trait, but apparently it can mostly work in one’s favor.

I’ve been trying to finish “the next project” since grade school, but professionally since my 8th grade teacher, Obed Jimenez, paid me $50 to write a grade book software program. The next project has always been the challenge, has kept my mind busy and my days full. If it’s not software, it’s the current hobby, or the next trip, or the next bike race.

Attempting to get arrested for civil disobedience (click for pictures)

All in all, I’m tired. I’m tired of planning the next project and the next adventure. I want buy a one way ticket, and sit in a beach with a beer in my hand and no plans but putting on sunscreen and turning over every hour. I want a computerless break long enough to learn languages other than Python or Go, and hopefully forget a few like Pascal and COBOL.

So, I’m taking a few months off from work. I have put the laptop in a drawer, bought a one way ticket to Bangkok, and have been fighting the urge to cycle around Southeast Asia, run across New Zealand, or resurrect the Gimple front-end.

Stay tuned. There will be no laptop, but I have a phone large enough to blog.